streak

American  

[streek] / strik /

noun

• streaks
  plural

1. a long, narrow mark, smear, band of color, or the like.

   streaks of mud.

2. a portion or layer of something, distinguished by color or nature from the rest; a vein or stratum.

   streaks of fat in meat.

3. a vein, strain, or admixture of anything.

   a streak of humor.

   Synonyms:

   trace, element, touch, cast

4. Informal.

   1. a spell or run.

      a streak of good luck.

   2. an uninterrupted series.

      The team had a losing streak of ten games.

5. a flash leaving a visible line or aftereffect, as of lightning; bolt.

6. Mineralogy. the line of powder obtained by scratching a mineral or rubbing it upon a hard, rough white surface, often differing in color from the mineral in the mass, and serving as an important distinguishing character.

7. Plant Pathology.

   1. an elongated, narrow, superficial lesion on stems or leaf veins, becoming brown and necrotic.

   2. any disease characterized by such lesions.

---

verb (used with object)

• streaks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• streaked,
  past participle,  past
• streaking
  present participle

1. to mark with a streak or streaks; form streaks on.

   sunlight streaking the water with gold; frost streaking the windows.

2. to lighten or color (strands of hair) for contrastive effect.

3. to dispose, arrange, smear, spread, etc., in the form of a streak or streaks.

   to streak cold germs on a slide for microscopic study.

verb (used without object)

• streaks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• streaked,
  past participle,  past
• streaking
  present participle

1. to become streaked.

2. to run, go, or work rapidly.

3. to flash, as lightning.

4. to make a sudden dash in public while naked, especially as a prank.

idioms

1. blue streak. blue streak.

streak ¹ British  

/ striːk /

noun

1. a variant spelling of strake

---

streak ² British  

/ striːk /

noun

1. a long thin mark, stripe, or trace of some contrasting colour

2. 1. (of lightning) a sudden flash

   2. ( as modifier )

      streak lightning

3. an element or trace, as of some quality or characteristic

4. a strip, vein, or layer

   fatty streaks

5. a short stretch or run, esp of good or bad luck

6. mineralogy the powdery mark made by a mineral when rubbed on a hard or rough surface: its colour is an important distinguishing characteristic

7. bacteriol the inoculation of a solid culture medium by drawing a wire contaminated with the microorganisms across it

8. informal an act or the practice of running naked through a public place

---

verb

1. (tr) to mark or daub with a streak or streaks

2. (intr) to form streaks or become streaked

3. (intr) to move rapidly in a straight line

4. informal (intr) to run naked through a crowd of people in a public place in order to shock or amuse them

streak Scientific  

/ strēk /

1. The characteristic color of a mineral after it has been ground into a powder. Because the streak of a mineral is not always the same as its natural color, it is a useful tool in mineral identification.

2. A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.

3. Also called streak plate

4. Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.

---

streak More Idioms  

1. see like greased lightning (a blue streak); talk someone's arm off (a blue streak); winning streak.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• streakedness
  noun
• streaker
  noun
• interstreak
  verb (used with object)
• streaked
  adjective
• streaklike
  adjective
• unstreaked
  adjective
• streakedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• streaks
  plural

Participles

• streaking
  present
• streaked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• streak
  simple
• streaks
  simple
• have streaked
  perfect
• has streaked
  perfect
• am streaking
  progressive
• are streaking
  progressive
• is streaking
  progressive
• have been streaking
  perfect progressive
• has been streaking
  perfect progressive

Past

• streaked
  simple
• had streaked
  perfect
• was streaking
  progressive
• were streaking
  progressive
• had been streaking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will streak
  simple
• will have streaked
  perfect
• will be streaking
  progressive
• will have been streaking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of streak

First recorded before 1000; (for the noun) Middle English streke, akin to strike, Old English strica “stroke, line, mark”; cognate with German Strich, Gothic striks “stroke”; akin to Latin strigil strigil; (for the verb) late Middle English streken “to cross out,” derivative of the noun; cf. strike, stroke ¹

Explanation

A streak is a mark or characteristic. What makes you keep trying to wipe the streak of permanent marker off the white couch — your clean streak or your stubborn streak? Like a mark or stain, a streak in a person is a characteristic or strain that runs through them — like a mean streak. The noun streak can also refer to an unbroken chain of events — you’ll want a lucky streak to keep going and a losing streak to come to a quick end. As a verb, to streak means to dash, sometimes without clothes. If you talk a blue streak, you’ve got a lot to say, very quickly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

streak streaks streaked streaking

Tencent Holdings’ 700 -1.95%decrease; down pointing triangle double-digit earnings growth streak since 2023 ended in the second quarter amid heavier investments in artificial intelligence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

It seemed no lead was safe during the Sparks’ matchup against the Mercury on Tuesday night before Phoenix rallied for a 94-87 win at the Galen Center, snapping its three-game losing streak.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Annabelle Shaw is hockey-obsessed and on a winning streak, scoring eight goals this season for her team, the Panthers.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Micron slips and SpaceX is in danger of ending its three-day winning streak.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Sam never shut up and he had a fearless streak that sometimes got all three of them into big trouble.

From "I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980" by Lauren Tarshis

“I’ve seen how our guys have responded to adversities and losing streaks, and so it’s not a panic situation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

When the particles enter Earth's atmosphere at high speed, they heat the surrounding air and create brief streaks of light.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Tiny particles of comet material enter the atmosphere at tremendous speed, heat up, and produce bright streaks across the sky.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

The tiny particles - roughly the size of a grain of sand - vaporise, creating visible streaks of light.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

After the third day and the streaks of open water had not appeared, a blizzard blew from the north and lasted for almost a week.

From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell

A meteor streaked across the New York City area in broad daylight on July 16, 2024, producing a sonic boom as it passed just south of the Statue of Liberty.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

Some supporters hurried to work still wearing Spain jerseys, while others had red and yellow face paint streaked across their cheeks.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026

The top shatters just slightly under a knife, giving way to a plush, chocolate-saturated center streaked with melted pockets.

From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2026

Iranian missiles streaked toward bases in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 28, 2026

Stacy always wears a lot of glittery eye makeup, and her black hair is streaked with bright magenta highlights.

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée

Every night around the world, thousands of automated sky cameras watch for flashes of light streaking across the atmosphere.

From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026

Palestinians in east Jerusalem regularly film rockets streaking through the sky from their rooftops.

From Barron's ● Mar. 8, 2026

Then, holding the stick in her left hand, Murphy slid the puck across the ice to her streaking teammate, who promptly banged it into the back of the net.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026

Though he yielded only one hit, the recently streaking right-hander fell back into a bad habit of being “too fine,” as manager Dave Roberts described it, with his command.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025

Rocket came galloping toward them from the opposite direction, streaking down the stairs and then around the corner toward the basement.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• smear